New eBook explores the realities of pedestrian activity across America

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 2, 2023 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- StreetLight Data, Inc. (StreetLight), a subsidiary of Jacobs (NYSE: J) and the leading Big Data company providing insights into how people, goods, and services move, today released WALKING IN AMERICA: Metro & Statewide Pedestrian & Mode Share Trends. The new eBook explores recent data-driven trends in walking and active mode share across all the Top 100 largest U.S. metros. An area of great interest to consumers, the economy, and to transportation planners across the nation, topline findings show that while cycling activity has risen, pedestrian activity is down substantially.

Select findings from WALKING IN AMERICA: Metro & Statewide Pedestrian & Mode Share Trends, include:

National Trends

• Active transportation (walking plus biking trips) accounted for 10% of trips in 2022, down from 14% in 2019. However, bicycle activity is increasing as a share of all trips, while pedestrian is decreasing as a share of all trips.
  
  
• Annual average daily walking trips in the U.S. declined by 36% nationally between 2019-2022, according to StreetLight, even as pedestrian fatalities trended up over the same period, based on the Governors Highway Safety Association Pedestrian Traffic Fatalities by State report.
  
  
• Walking is starting to stabilize nationally since 2021, with several metro areas seeing an increase in 2022. The increase is driven by the most dense, downtown areas of the country.
  
  
• The decline is sharper in places with more inclement weather. This may indicate that the reduction in overall pedestrian activity is largely a reduction in "utility trips" (e.g., walking to get lunch downtown during a workday), and less due to reduction in "recreational" trips such as going for a walk with friends.

State Trends

• Every state saw walking activity decline between 2019-2022. New Jersey saw the smallest decline, with a 29% decrease in walking trips.
  
  
• The states that rank highest for per capita walking activity are Washington, D.C., New York, New Jersey, and Nevada. Alabama, Arkansas, and Tennessee rank last.
  
  
• Among the largest 25 states by population, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts see the highest share of trips taken via active transportation while Louisiana, Tennessee, and Alabama see the smallest share of trips taken via active transportation.

Major Metro (City) Trends

• Every major metro lost walking activity between 2019-2022, with declines ranging from 23% to 49%. The smallest declines were concentrated in warm weather metros.
  
  
• However, compared to 2021, 18 metros saw walking activity rise in 2022. California metros took 9 out of the top 10 spots for 2022 YoY walking trip growth. New York City ranked 10th.
  
  
• Per capita, New York City ranked first for walking activity in 2022 followed by Orlando, Las Vegas, San Diego, and Boston. Los Angeles ranked sixth.
  
  
• Among the 25 biggest metros, San Francisco and Boston follow NYC for highest share of trips taken via an active transportation mode, while Houston, Dallas, and Atlanta saw the smallest share of trips taken via an active transportation mode.

"Active transportation mode data, specifically cycling and walking activity, have historically been hard to come by, which is why we are excited to be releasing this report," said Laura Schewel, StreetLight CEO and VP of Transportation Software at Jacobs. "We hope that localities can use trends to help re-focus their resources. In most places, the changes are significant and vary between urban and suburban areas. This indicates that localities might get bigger impact expending pedestrian investments beyond the normal boundaries, and updating assumptions about how to increase walking."

The StreetLight InSight® platform transforms data into contextualized, normalized, and aggregated travel patterns. The result is deep data coverage and a robust analytic platform that empowers planners and other transportation professionals with data-driven insights to inform transportation and infrastructure projects of any size and scope.

To get a copy of the WALKING IN AMERICA: Metro & Statewide Pedestrian & Mode Share Trends eBook, visit streetlightdata.com/walking-trends-report.

To learn even more about pedestrian and other active transportation tends across the U.S., join our live webinar on November 9th at 2 p.m. ET / 11 a.m. PT. To register, visit streetlightdata.com/mode-share-trends-webinar.

About StreetLight, a Jacobs Company

StreetLight Data, Inc. ("StreetLight") pioneered the use of Big Data analytics to shed light on how people, goods, and services move, empowering smarter, data-driven transportation decisions. The company applies proprietary machine-learning algorithms and its vast data processing resources to measure travel patterns of vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians, accessible as analytics on the StreetLight InSight® SaaS platform. Acquired by Jacobs as a wholly owned subsidiary in February 2022, StreetLight provides innovative digital solutions to help communities reduce congestion, improve safe and equitable transportation, and maximize the positive impact of infrastructure investment.

www.streetlightdata.com

Media Contact

Peter Evers, StreetLight Data, 1 (415) 888-3680, peter@natroncomm.com, www.streetlightdata.com

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SOURCE StreetLight Data